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Percival Having Surgery

Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO

If succesful, the Rays will feel a bit better about the status of their bullpen heading into 2009.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 2, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - The Rays expect Troy Percival to be back in their bullpen next season, but he probably won't take the mound again until sometime in the middle of spring training.

Percival will undergo surgery on his back today in an attempt to resolve a problem that dogged him throughout much of the 2008 season. The rehabilitation process is expected to last about three months, meaning Percival is unlikely to be throwing at full strength until early March.

A truncated spring training shouldn't be a problem for Percival, who prefers not to make many appearances in March and has followed that pattern throughout his career. And if today's procedure is successful in alleviating the various issues Percival's back caused him last season - and ultimately prompted him to undergo epidural injections late in the year - the Rays will feel a bit better about the status of their bullpen heading into 2009.

Regardless of Percival's availability early on, shoring up the relief corps is once again a prominent item on the Rays' offseason to-do list. Between the desire to add another arm or two to the bullpen and trolling for help in right field and at the designated hitter slot, Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman and his staff have a few specific areas to address in the coming weeks.

There hasn't been much action for the Rays in the month since the World Series ended, but that's the way it's going all around baseball. There have been a couple of trades and free-agent signings, but teams for the most part have been content to take their time. That may change next week when everyone gathers in Las Vegas for the annual winter meetings, which begin Monday.

"It's been a little slow-moving thus far," Friedman said. "We're pretty far along in the process of determining which teams we match up with and which free agents we may have a chance to sign. Now we're waiting for the winter meetings, which we expect to be fairly action-packed in light of the limited movement so far."

The market could begin to break loose a bit now that the deadline has passed for teams to offer arbitration to their own free agents.

As expected, the Rays declined to do so for their free agents - Rocco Baldelli, Cliff Floyd, Eric Hinske and Trever Miller. As none was rated a "Type A" or "Type B" free agent, there was no incentive for the Rays to offer arbitration in hopes of receiving draft picks should those players sign elsewhere. The Rays still could re-sign any of them, with Baldelli seemingly the most likely candidate.

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227.

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